Rallies and Protests
by Percyjacksonfan3
Summary: Katie starts going to rallies to protest cutting down rain forests and Travis just doesn't understand- until he does. Tratie, because I haven't written them for a while. Thanks to PierceTheVeil for the prompt! Rated for a swear word or two.


**Written for the forum Percy Jackson Fanfiction Prompts- The Random Quote Challenge. I asked for a quote and was given one by the Fanfictioner PierceTheVeils. Here is the quote I got.**

'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.'

-Native American Proverb

**And now here is my story.**

**Disclaimer: You all know what goes here better than I do. Rick owns it all.**

**oooOOOooo**

She had started going to rallies.

Seriously, Travis thought as he watched his wife pick up her picket sign and get ready to leave for another one of the stupid things. Katie had been completely fine before her half- sister Miranda had come and stayed with them for a week. Completely fine before her sister had gone and opened her big mouth.

"There's rallies going on outside of Senator Douglas's house," Miranda had said to them while watching the news from the living room while Travis and his wife had busied themselves getting dinner ready in the kitchen. "People are protesting his idea to cut down part of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil to create more space for farms. There's rumors he made deals with the Brazilian President."

"What?" Katie had screeched, slamming down the (thankfully wooden) tray on their kitchen counter, making the freshly baked bread on it jump. "He can't do that!"

Travis had jumped at her outburst and carefully, moving slowly, took away the bread knife she was holding in a hand trembling with anger. His wife shot him a glare but was too busy talking to her sister to really do anything.

"He hasn't exactly _done_ anything yet, just shown his support." Miranda said. "But if he wins the election then… who knows what will happen."

"He can't win!" Katie exclaimed. "Who would vote for a man who says _in his campaign_ that he would cut down rainforests!?"

Miranda shrugged. "I don't know. But he obviously has some people backing him up."

By this point Katie had completely left the kitchen to go and plonk down on the sofa in front of the TV. "And people are protesting?" She asked.

Miranda nodded, turning up the volume. From the kitchen Travis- who was still chopping vegetables like a good husband- heard chanting and other sounds.

Protests.

After a few minutes of Katie sitting in front of the TV and hearing her murmur to her sister, Travis's wife came back and helped him finish the dinner. They ate that night and Travis put the thoughts of protesters and Senator Douglas out of his mind.

Until a week later when he came home to find Miranda gone- she had left a couple of days earlier- and Katie putting on a jacket and holding a picket sign.

"What's going on?" He had asked as soon as he walked in, dropping his keys on the table beside their coat stand.

Katie looked at him and frowned at his tone. "What does it look like?" She had asked. "I'm going out."

Travis raised his eyebrows as he looked at the sign in her hands. "To hit somebody?"

Katie rolled her eyes at her husband. "No, Stoll." She had said before hesitating slightly, biting her lower lip nervously. "To go to a rally and protest."

Travis laughed. "You're joking right?"

Katie stood up straighter, his attitude obviously making her angry. "No."

"What- seriously?" He asked. "Katie, that's stupid."

"Why?" She challenged.

He frowned at her. "Are you feeling alright?"

Something flashed in her eyes- along with anger- and instead of answering she hastily turned and snatched up his keys. "I'll be back soon," her she hesitated again. "I think."

"Katie," Travis said, realizing that she was, in fact, serious about this. He grabbed her wrist gently. "Wait. You could get hurt."

Her eyes warmed slightly but she still pulled away. "It's a rally, Travis, not a riot." She said.

Without another word she walked out.

She went to several more before he finally got angry.

"Will you stop this? Katie, it's stupid!"

She had been about to pick up her sign _yet again _and he had finally had enough. Travis wasn't even sure why it bothered him so much that she was going to these protests, it just did. It was weird.

"No, Travis, it's not."

"Nobody _cares_," he said to her, which was harsh but, in his opinion, true. "Nobody actually listens. Everybody at those things are just annoyances. Like flies to a cow."

"I have to go," Katie said, not letting herself get angry. "You should come too."

"_Why_?" Travis asked again.

"Because at least I'm doing something." Katie replied. "At least I'm fighting for what I know is right."

"Why bother-"

"He's trying to cut down rainforests, Travis." Katie said, finally losing patience. "If he becomes president, what next? Cutting down all trees just to make room for new cities? Killing off certain animals and confining the rest to zoos? Building skyscrapers and taking up pieces of country land? He's killing the earth," Katie said. "And it will die because of him."

"But that will take hundreds of years! We'll be dead by then!" Travis exclaimed. "Why should we care?"

Katie's eyes had narrowed at her husband. "You're not that selfish. Or narrow-minded."

He met her beautiful eyes and relaxed under her penetrating stare. He had married a daughter of Demeter for Zeus's sakes, of course he cared _somewhat_ about the state of the earth- even if Gaea herself was a total bitch. "No," he admitted. "I'm not." Katie opened her mouth, presumably to end the argument, but Travis went on. "But if I was? What would you tell me then?"

"Apart from 'You're sleeping on the couch tonight'?" She asked with a raised eyebrow before she sighed, set down her sign on the coffee table and stepped closer to him. After a few seconds she spoke. "I would tell you a Native American Proverb my father always told me." She went on, rushing as Travis opened his mouth to groan- he hated her father's sayings. They were always so complicated and had a deeper meaning than Travis cared enough to figure out. "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors." Katie said softly. "We borrow it from our children."

Travis looked down at his wife, her words running through his head. "You know I don't understand what that means right?"

She rolled her eyes but there was affection in them. "I know," she replied before standing on tiptoes to kiss him quickly. "Figure it out." She said as she picked her sign back up and then left through their apartment's front door and leaving him to think for a few hours.

He did. And he figured out what it meant.

Katie didn't even have to speak to him about the next rally- he just got out a sign he had made himself and grabbed the keys to their car.

oooOOOooo

**It's a little more than 500 words- more than double actually- but I couldn't find a good place to end it until I just… did. Besides, the rules were more than 500 words so I assume it can be as long as this. **

**Hope you liked it! I was bored, needed a prompt… and yeah. I used it. Thanks PierceTheVeil, for the prompt in the first place! I made it Tratie because they're cute- and I can see Katie being a total green thumb cause, duh, she's a Demeter kid. **

**Review?**

**Love you all!**

**Percyjacksonfan3**


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